Govt School Teacher Accused of Raping Dalit Student in Punjab, Arrested

Chandigarh: A government school teacher in Ludhiana district has been charged with raping a minor Dalit student and conspiring with another male teacher to abort her foetus when she got pregnant, police said.

A FIR in this regard was registered at Hathur Police Station in Ludhiana today and both the accused teachers were arrested, SSP Ludhiana (Rural) Surjeet Singh said. Whether the abortion had taken place or not is under investigation, the police said.

The SSP said that a male teacher of another government school in Ludhiana, who was earlier posted in that school, had a few days ago lodged a complaint accusing the two teachers of allegedly raping the Class XII girl, and conspiring to abort her foetus after learning that she had got pregnant.

Besides the complaint, the complainant teacher had also forwarded an audio clip of nearly four minutes in which the two accused teachers were allegedly discussing ways of getting the 18-year-old student's abortion done.

In the clip, both accused teachers were allegedly found talking that they would make the girl fall from stairs and then rush her to a hospital, the SSP said.

"The two accused teachers also planned how they would avoid taking along a woman teacher when they take the girl to the hospital," he said.

Sub Inspector Rupinder Kaur along with Station House Officer (SHO), Hathur Police Station, recently visited the village in Ludhiana where the girl lived and recorded her statement in the presence of her parents, the SSP said. The victim was also produced before the Duty Magistrate in the presence of her mother and Sarpanch. The Duty Magistrate recorded the statement of the victim, the SSP said in an official release on Thursday.

The girl stated that she had taken the admission in Class-9 in the school. When she was studying in Class XI, last year, one of the accused school teacher raped her in the school library, the SSP said.

A case under various provisions of IPC including rape, conspiracy, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the SC/ST Act, and under the provisions of the IT Act has been registered against the two accused teachers, the SSP added.